(Update and context on an important developing situation - promoted by MissLaura.)
After all the votes were counted in the key swing district of Chester County (the West Chester seat), the Democrats gained a narrow 102-101 seat margin in the Pennsylvania House. But then the immortal law of the ever-quotable Yogi Berra came into play. "It ain't over until it's over," Yogi famously said.
In giving the Democrats a one-vote margin, the voters each and every Democrat more power. Tragically--for himself, his urban constituents in Reading and its nearly areas, his reputation, his political future, the Democratic Party, and the people of Pennsylvania--Tom Caltagirone, now beginning his 31st year in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, chose to use the additional power for the purpose of turning the House back to the Republicans. DanielUA broke this story on the Daily Kos around 1:20 this afternoon, Pacific Standard Time.
Caltagirone, as he noted in a statement, gave over $50,000 from his campaign committee to help elect Democrats to the state house in 2006. A lot of that money went to two new Democratic winners from Berks County, Caltagirone's home county. His decision to turn the House over to the Republicans after having helped elect a Democratic majority defies logic or purpose or rationality.
A lot of Democrats, including myself, have tried to talk to Caltagirone. But he is hiding out at one or more undisclosed locations, steadily refusing to talk to anyone. One hopes that the penetrating intelligence which he has sometimes displayed in the past will return, and he will announce that this is all one big misunderstanding and the letter released to the press backing Perzel was just a draft he toyed with but never decided to send and that he has changed his mind, but that does not appear very likely as I write this.
Fortunately for the Democrats, there is also division in Republican ranks.
Although the Republicans won 101 seats, about eight of those 101 have made clear they do not intend to vote for last session's Speaker John Perzel. They don't want to vote for DeWeese either; they are threatening to abstain so DeWeese will win by something like 101 to 94.
They are fed up with Perzel's constant dealmaking, which they see as leading to ever-increasing governmental spending. They view Perzel's ability to attract conservative Democrats like Caltagirone as a symptom of a major problem of lack of true conservative ideology (i.e. fiscal restraint), which makes him attractive to Democrats.
The big spending projects that both Perzel and Caltagirone love are anathema to them. Their key issue is not opposition to choice and gay rights--issues that generally unite Perzel and Caltagirone--but opposition to governmental spending. They believe governmental spending in Pennsylvania will never get under control when the Republicans sometimes outbid the Democrats in what they are willing to spend on pet projects.
So the speakership is very much in play less than 72 hours before the election is to be held. My prediction is that DeWeese still wins on the strength of Republican divisons, but it is going to be a very chaotic two years in Harrisburg. And Tom Caltagirone is going to find it is going to be a very hot and hellish time in Reading and in Harrisburg. He'll be no more welcome in Democratic caucus meetings than John Perzel is, and a lot more hated.
There are many times for grassroots activism, and this is certainly one of them.